L’Houssaine Kherchtou of Morocco joined al-Qaeda in 1991, determined to become the personal pilot for Osama bin Laden. But Kherchtou got out of the terrorist organization after it decided to relocate its operation from Sudan to Afghanistan and it refused to help pay for his wife’s cesarean section. Upon returning from a trip to Kenya, the Kherchtou found his spouse begging in the streets to raise the $500 needed for the procedure.

 

Kherchtou is now testifying for the United States in its trial of Ahmed Khalfan Ghailani, who is accused of involvement in the bombings of the U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania on August 7, 1998, that killed 224 people, including 12 Americans.

-Noel Brinkerhoff

 

Witness Testifies He Left Al-Qaeda over Payment of Wife’s Care (by Patricia Hurtado, Bloomberg)

Terror Trial Witness Gives More Details on Training With al-Qaida (by Adam Klasfeld, Courthouse News Service)